The Kenyan Communications Authority (CA) is likely to announce new cutbacks to the rates that mobile phone companies charge each other for linking users, implying cheaper call rates.
The regulator stated that the time had come to evaluate the charges known as mobile termination rate (MTR) in order to keep up with technological advancements that have made mobile telephony more efficient.
“Owing to the passage of time, changes in the market as well as the macroeconomic environment, the authority now wishes to carry out a review of the telecommunication interconnection rates using benchmarking technology,” the CA said in a public notice yesterday.
According to industry data, the rate has been gradually declining from a high of Sh4.42 in 2011 to the current Sh0.99, which has been in place since 2015, marking a five-year freeze after intensive lobbying by some of the country’s largest telcos.
Industry data shows that the rate has been falling gradually from a high of Sh4.42 in 2011 to the current Sh0.99, which has been in place since 2015, marking a freeze of more than five years amid intense lobbying by some top telcos.
Should mobile phone providers choose to drop call charges for their clients, the new proposals to cut the cost could start a pricing war.
A previous tariff decrease from Sh 4.42 to Sh2.21 in 2010 provoked a pricing war among Kenyan operators.
Before adjusting the current rate of Sh0.99, the CA stated it had provided an acceptable window.
